Solar panels are essential to the energy transition. But what happens when they reach the end of their service life? That was the central theme of the presentation delivered by the European PHOTORAMA project at the EU PVSEC – 43rd European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition in Rotterdam. Together with research and industry partners, Maltha presented the latest developments in high-value solar panel recycling and the recovery of solar panel glass.
The volume of end-of-life solar panels is expected to grow rapidly over the coming decades. Global PV waste is projected to exceed 210 million tonnes by 2050. Since glass accounts for 70 to 95 percent of a solar panel’s total weight, glass recycling plays a crucial role in creating a circular solar industry.
High-value solar panel glass recycling offers several important benefits:
- Reduced demand for virgin raw materials
- Lower CO2 emissions from glass production
- Less waste sent to landfill or incineration
- Greater circularity within the solar energy value chain
Within the PHOTORAMA project, innovative technologies have been developed to recycle solar panels at a much higher value. Instead of crushing panels into low-grade materials, advanced delamination techniques separate glass, metals and polymers while preserving material quality. This creates a clean glass stream suitable for high-value reuse.
Maltha contributed through:
- Analysing the quality of recovered solar panel glass
- Producing high-quality cullet for industrial applications
- Conducting industrial trials with recycled PV glass
- Investigating new circular applications for solar panel glass
The results confirmed that the recovered glass has a high level of purity and is suitable for reuse in demanding glass manufacturing applications.
One of the project’s key achievements was the successful use of recycled solar panel glass in an industrial flat glass manufacturing facility. Maltha produced high-quality cullet from end-of-life solar panels, after which 75 tonnes of recycled solar panel glass were successfully incorporated into the production of new flat glass.
This demonstrates that solar panel glass can be reused as a valuable raw material for new glass products.